The present invention relates to an apparatus for fine tuning strings of a stringed musical instrument.
A typical example of such a fine tuning apparatus is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,497,236. In this known apparatus, as reillustrated here in FIG. 8 of the accompanying drawings, a tremolo base plate 7 is mounted on the body 3 of a guitar by a plurality of screws 12, there being a plurality of forward block members 41 each mounted on the tremolo base plate 7 by a screw 16 so as to be movable longitudinally of the respective string 100. A rear block member 42 is mounted on the rear side of each forward block member 41 by a pin 45 so as to be pivotable vertically. Each rear block member 42 has in its forward top surface a groove 43 for the respective string 100, and has rearwardly of the groove 43 an opening 44 in which a clamp 46 is disposed. A threaded shank 47 threadedly extends through a rear wall of the rear block member 42 for pushing the clamp 46 forwardly to clamp the rear end (from which a terminal ball 101 is removed by cutting) of the string 100 between the forward wall of the rear block member 42 and the clamp 46.
Each threaded shank 47 extends through a flange 48 projecting obliquely upwardly rearwardly from the rear end of the tremolo base plate 7 and terminating in a rearwardly directed horizontal portion into which a tuning finger screw 49 threadedly extends to abut against the threaded shank 47.
However, the prior art apparatus has a problem in that since the string 100 is tightly clamped between the forward wall of the rear block member 42 and the clamp 46 by tightening the threaded shank 47, the rear block member 42 and the clamp 46 need to have an adequate degree of hardness and therefore must be treated by hardening process. Also, this conventional construction requires a relatively large number of parts. Another problem of the prior apparatus is that the terminal ball 101 must be removed by cutting from the rear end of the string 100 before the latter is clamped, requiring a cutter. When cutting, the blade of the cutter can be easily broken. The fourth, fifth and sixth strings in particular, which are twisted strings, tend to become loose when cut to remove the respective terminal ball 101.